MANDUVA KOTIAH AND OTHERS Vs. ONGOLE VENKATA SUBBARAO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Judgment of the Court was delivered by The Hon'ble The Chief Justice.

(2.) These are Letters Patent Appeals against the judgment of our learned brother Umamaheswaram J. reversing the orders of the learned Subordinate Judge.

(3.) The respondent filed petitions under Section 19-A of the Madras Agriculturists' Relief Act for declaration of the amount due under the alleged mortgages executed by him, or, for a declaration that the said mortgages were discharged. The learned District Munsif held that the documents relied upon by the respondent were not mortgages but were leases executed by him in discharge of his prior indebtedness. In that view, he dismissed the petitions on the ground that they were not maintainable. On appeal, the learned Subordinate Judge took a contrary view on the interpretation of the documents. He came to the conclusion that the documents were not leases but mortgages and, therefore, the debts evidenced by the said documents were liable to be scaled down. The creditors filed second appeals to this Court, which were heard by Umamaheswaram J. Before the learned Judge, two objections were taken (i) that no appeals lay to the Subordinate Judge from the orders of the District Munsif and (ii) that the construction placed on the documents by the Subordinate Judge was wrong and that the documents were leases and not mortgages.